Why Did You Leave Me?
by I heart the Hitachiin twins
Summary: You know that episode where everyone is insulting Natsu to get him to free himself from the dragonoid? Well, I noticed Erza said that if Igneel could see him, he'd be disappointed. I fell that this was a MAJOR low blow, and a little uncalled for. I feel that it may have affected Natsu to hear that considering all his uncertainty around why he left in the first place. (Oneshot)


**Author's note**

**Hi! You know that episode where everyone is insulting Natsu to get him to free himself from the dragonoid? Well, I noticed Erza said that if Igneel could see him, he'd be disappointed. I fell that this was a MAJOR low blow, and a little uncalled for. I feel that it may have affected Natsu to hear that considering all his uncertainty around why Igneel left in the first place. So here is an angst piece of stuff. For all of you following 'It Was An Accident', I'll be updating soon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FT**

The dragooned had been defeated, so Fairy Tail was celebrating in its usual rowdy fashion. The guild had its trademark homely atmosphere to it and all seemed right, at a glance. However, a certain fire-breathing dragon slayer seemed unwilling to join the festivities, in fact, he was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, Gray was first to notice the hot-headed mage's absence due to the fact that he and Natsu were yet to brawl noisily through the guild, dragging almost everyone into the petty showdown. He spotted Lucy chatting with Erza and Happy by the bar, Lucy and Happy were laughing at something the celestial mage had said but the requip mage had a look of disdain on her face indicating that she did not approve of the current discussion. He slumped down next to them, only to be cuffed around the ear by an armoured hand. "Hey! What was that for!" He asked angrily, rubbing his aching head. "Was the first thing you ever did with Lucy to ask for her underwear?" Erza demanded. The embarrassed silence was all she needed. "Shameful." She muttered, however she still failed to hide her smile. "Anyway," Gray started, anxious to change topic, "Have any of you seen Natsu? I can't find that flame brain anywhere." "Now that you mention it... No." Lucy said slowly, "Come to think of it I haven't seen him since the battle." Happy took off and scanned the crowd from above. "He's not here." Happy reported, wringing his paws worryingly. "I think we should find him, like, now." The four of them dashed to the door and shot out of it.

"Split up," Erza commanded, "If you find him send up a magical flare." The others nodded and all ran in different directions. They met up almost three hours later by a cave just off of magnolia's borders, no party had yielded results. "Damn it!" Gray yelled, both furious and incredibly worried at this point. "That flame brain has landed himself in trouble again hasn't he!" Silence met this; fortunately that allowed Happy to pick up a noise he had previously been oblivious to. "Hey, quiet!" The exeed listened hard, there it was again. A echoed, almost animalistic wail coming from the cave. He cautiously flew to the mouth of it and said, "Hello? Is someone in there?" He drifted in further and the others followed. After a while it got too dark to see and Gray summoned a special form of luminescent ice. Effective, but Natsu's fire was brighter. The light from this revealed heavy scorch marks on the floor, walls and ceiling, signs of a bad fire, or an out of control fire mage. They quickened their pace.

"Is it just me," Lucy said after a while, "Or is it getting hot in here?" She was right. In the last ten minutes it had become very toasty and many of the small group were sweating. Gray had stripped long ago but no one said anything. Erza had requip into her flame princess outfit and Happy had removed his scarf, all to try to beat the heat. The glowing ice had melted but the cave was lit with weird crystals that offered a little light. The heat was agonising and just getting worse the deeper they went. Luckily it was a one way path so they wouldn't get lost at least. The yelling was louder now, loud enough for the three humans to hear. "That's Natsu alright." Erza confirmed, "I don't know anyone else with lungs like that." not one of them commented on the clear undertone of grief and psychological pain of the screams. "What's that?" Lucy asked, pointing to a glow up ahead. It was white, bright and so very hot. Lucy felt her skin start to blister as she was subjected to its scathing rays. They were all outright panting, yet they fought forward. The wailing had escalated to full on screaming as the dragon-slayer created the equivalent of a solar flare.

"NATSU!" Gray yelled into the storm, yet his voice was whipped away by the yelling of the fire mage. "WHY DID YOU GO!?" Natsu's question cut through the wild magic to hurtle itself towards the other's ears, Erza opened her mouth to answer that they hadn't, but then... "WHY DID YOU GO!? IGNEEL... DAD! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME ALONE? WAS ERZA RIGHT, WAS I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?" The riquip mage's breath hitched as Natsu screamed his pain to nothingness. Trails of pure lava were making tracks down his cheeks as he cried for his foster-father, hugging the scarf closely (It's a good thing it's fireproof). "Please, come back... What did I do wrong?" he whimpered softly. He then broke down in the middle of the magical supernova, truly believing that no one could hear him. Both girls were developing burns now and Gray had coated himself in ice to attempt to stop himself from being burnt to a crisp. Finally realising that if someone didn't do something Natsu would actually burn them alive, Gray ran straight into the fiery depths yelling, "Oi! Squinty eyes, you're roasting us down here!" Not for the first time, the three mages and the exeed were thankful for Natsu's impressive hearing as the temperature lowered slightly, still hot, but not scalding anymore. Natsu looked horrified, "You were there, You saw... ARE YOU ALL _IDIOTS_?!" He screamed angrily, the heat rising once again. "YOU COULD HAVE BEEN _KILLED_! I... I could have killed you..." Happy flew up to Natsu's face and rubbed his cheek, only to pull away from Natsu's fiery tears that persisted to stream down his face. The others looked at each other, concerned.

"You were right," Natsu muttered, They looked up at him, startled by the side of him they were seeing today. "He would be disappointed. Look at me, I'm a mess. I'm weak." He said sadly, throwing a glowing crystal into the centre of the molten mess his outburst had created, watching it sink into the lava. Gray moved towards him, and. proceeded to whack him over the head. "Ow! What was that for!" Natsu complained. "Thinking that you're weak." Gray stated firmly, "Someone weak couldn't have broken out of the dragonoid. Hell, if you were weak you wouldn't have survived powering it! If you were weak Nervana would have turned your heart dark and we would have died. If you were weak you wouldn't have been able to make this much of a mess! So you are not weak." Natsu looked at him with a mixture of confusion and gratitude, then he started laughing. A small chuckle at first, then it evolved into a proper laugh that echoed off the walls. He stood and blinked. "C'mon, let's go home." He said cheerfully, walking away from the destruction behind him, the others followed. And much to Natsu's relief, no one noticed the excessive scorch marks in the corridor across the cave from various tantrums and grieving sessions, that was a story for another day.


End file.
